Role Reversal
by RWBYRedReaper
Summary: Join Emerald Sustrai as she deals with becoming a Beacon student, along with her best friend/crush Mercury Black. Meeting new teammates along the way, such as the mute heiress, Neo, and the mysterious Adam. She also finds new enemies, such as the crime lady Glynda Goodwitch, and her own students, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. Follow canon as close as possible.
1. Chapter 1

Roles Reversed

The city of Vale, one of the larger and more populated cities of Vale was beautiful at night. People bustling and walking around, looking inside store windows and eating in fine restaurants.

It was so crowded that nobody noticed a group of people, all well dressed in black and red suits and following an even more interestingly dressed person, walking towards a local late night dust shop.

The shopkeeper, an old man, who was just sitting down with a good book, looked up with a smile when his door bell jingled.

His smile faltered when he saw who had entered his shop.

"Do you know how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" The leader asked, staring coldly at the now trembling shopkeeper.

"I… Uh…" He mumbled.

*Sigh* "Get the dust." She said, pointing to all the different colored dust cylinders on the wall.

The henchman quickly followed her command, and attached containers to said cylinders.

She stayed where she was, fiddling with her weapon while her men did their work.

One of the henchmen, Stein, approached the back of the store, where he thought he'd seen movement.

"Who's back here?" He called, waving his gun around, attempting to look impressive.

He then heard slight music, and turned around suddenly.

There was a girl standing behind him, her hand outstretched towards his pocket.

"What the-… Hands in the air!" She didn't comply.

"Were you… robbing _me_?" He asked, incredulous.

She only nodded, her oddly colored mint hair covering her face.

"Aaaahhh…" He nodded, smirking as he aimed his weapon at her.

*Front of the store*

"Aaaargh" The criminal screamed as he flew into a cardboard stand next to the front door.

The blonde crime lady motioned for some of her men to check the back of the store, but a hail of bullets forced them to seek cover.

"Ugh… must I do _everything_ myself? You bumbling idiots were worth every cent." The now angry Lady Goodwitch, Criminal Lord and Scum of Vale's underbelly said bitterly, and pulled her weapon, a nasty looking riding crop.

There was a flash of green, as whoever had just attacked them flew out the window, riding one of her henchman.

She could have sworn she say the green figure's hand in his pocket as they flew by.

Goodwitch followed the attacker outside, and was met by an unexpected sight.

The attacker was clearly female, with an exposing tank top, and oddly colored green hair, done in a ponytail, with two long hairlets hanging infront.

She had her weapons out, two twin machine pistols, also green, and both aimed at her.

She didn't have time for this.

"Well, get her!" she ordered, and her bumbling henchmen sprang awkwardly into action.

The green girl had no trouble wiping them out. Her semblance, forced illusion, caused many of them to stop, seemingly thinking she had disappeared… and were subsequently dispatched.

Soon, it was just her and Goodwitch.

"You have skill, child, but you are no match for me." She warned, and launched a volley of energy at the shorter girl, which she dodged expertly.

By the time the she could recover, Goodwitch was already on the top of a nearby building.

'Okay, Emerald… Just like Aunt Raven taught me…' the green girl thought to herself, and began to give chase.

When she caught up to the woman, she was standing on the edge of the building, looking down.

"Stop. Turn yourself in. Pickpocketing is… bad, I'll admit it. But what you did was _much_ worse!" Emerald called.

"Tsk Tsk. Persistant." Goodwitch answered, as a bullhead came from seemingly nowhere, and opened its side door.

Goodwitch jumped aboard, and turned around.

"We won't be meeting again, little girl…" She called over the roar of the engines, and launched one last beam of energy.

Emerald wasn't fast enough, and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

There was a blast of heat, and she scrunched her face up.

Seconds past, and she peeked one eye open.

Instead of darkness… or the pearly gates of heaven, there stood a women.

She had a short red and gold dress, and long black hair.

The newcomer had blocked the attack by launching a pillar of dense fire in front of them.

'Huntress… great.' Emerald thought to herself, as said huntress began to launch fiery attacks of her own.

Goodwitch seemed to disappear into the ship, and a large green bubble of energy enveloped it, blocking every attack of the huntress' and eventually flew away.

Before it left however, Emerald thought she saw the figure of a man wearing deep green, almost black, and sporting gray hair.

The fight now over, the red huntress turned to face her, and merely said, "Follow."

"What? Why? Where?" Emerald asked instantly.

"Don't think. Obey." Came the terse reply.

Emerald sat silently at a table, listening to the ranting huntress, who'd identified herself as Cinder Fall, stewardess of Beacon Academy.

"… If it were up to me, you-" The door opened, interrupting her.

"Now, now, Cinder, she was only attempting to stop that robbery… not kill a bunch of kiddies…" A voice came from within said, and a man entered the room.

He was taller, carrying a cane and wearing a white coat with a black bowler hat.

Roman Torchwick, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, and one of the most respectable men alive, if not a little eccentric at times.

"This… _girl_ -" Professor Fall attempted, but Torchwick cut her off again.

"Really, Cindy… go take a break, and let me handle this." He ordered.

Fall left with a huff.

"Now then... You have… green hair…" He said, staring at her, but changed tactics completely I'm assuming you know who I am?" He asked, sitting down and putting his feet up on the desk.

"Headmaster Torchwick of Beacon." Emerald answered.

"Good. You've heard of me… But I have no idea who you are…"

"Emerald Sustrai."

"Oh my, we have a talkative one here. How would you like to come to my school?"

She perked up. Being a huntress of Beacon was… one of her oldest dreams. She had since given up on that dream when she was ejected from Signal due to… stealing.

"Wha-? Yes, please!" She gasped.

"Finally, some emotion…" Torchwick said under his breath, then, "Well… alright…"

'Dammit… why him…?' Emerald thought to herself.

She'd just boarded the passenger ship for Beacon, when she caught sight of the one person she hadn't wanted to see.

Her crush, Mercury Black.

He was standing there, looking out the window, eyeing everyone who came close to him.

He must have seen her reflection as she attempted to sneak past him, because he turned suddenly.

"Em! What are you doing here!? I thought only kids with completed application papers could get in here! Must be false advertising…" He teased.

He was a bit of an ass, but never meant any of it.

"Oh… uh… yeah…" She could only mutter, scratching the back of her head nervously.

He hugged her shoulders with one hand, guiding her to the window.

"Well, you're here now, and that's pretty cool…" He said.

"Yeah… So… how've you-" She attempted to ask, but a holographic Cinder interrupted them.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy. You are among the select few that have successfully been accepted to this prestigious school…" Cinder continued to drabble on and on, but Emerald had lost interest.

She'd been watching a blonde boy who was running back and forth, holding his hand over his mouth and gagging.

'Oh, crap!' She thought as he tripped up next to her, and opened his mouth.

He threw up not on her, but on Mercury.

"Oh, Merc, gross! You have vomit on your legs!" She shouted, while Merc couldn't help but laugh lightheartedly, and begin brushing himself off. She couldn't help but join in.

This was only the first day of her time of Beacon, and it was already crazy.

Little did she know that bad things were already set in motion, and her happy days were numbered.

 **A/N: This is definitely AU. In order to fit, major changes will happen to the canon storyline, but I will try to mirror the main storyline best I can. Mercury is the most OOC out of all of them, but mostly because his main self is... not student material, or likeable as a student.**

 **Main changes will be revealed when necessary at the beginning of each affected chapter. Hope you enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A Shining Beacon

The rest of the trip to Beacon was fairly uneventful. The ship past various landmarks, such as Signal Academy, where she and Mercury had attended before he was admitted to their current school, and she was expelled.

"So, Em, what happened? Seems kind of out of the blue… first you're kicked out of Signal, you drop off the face of the earth, then suddenly, we're on the same ship to Beacon? I thought you didn't really want to become a huntress…" Merc asked, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah, uh… I didn't. It seemed so sudden. First I interrupted a robbery of a dust store…(attempting to pickpocket one of them), then Ms. Fall found me, and took me here. I really didn't want to become a huntress, until I saw her defend me… It was kinda cool, and humbling… But then Headmaster Torchwick talked to me a bunch… commented on my hair, which was a little weird, but it confirmed it. I want to be a huntress." Emerald answered, rambling slightly.

"You really didn't show any inclination before, other than Signal…" Mercury started again, but Emerald got up.

"I changed my mind. I want to do this. Come on! We're almost there. We should get our stuff."

The airship brought itself exactly alongside the landing area, and unloaded it's passengers.

Em and Mercury walked out together, still chatting, when Mercury was knocked aside by a fast moving luggage cart.

"Gah! What the-" He said, leaping to his feet, looking around.

A smaller, very colorful girl chased after it alongside several men with tuxedos.

"Is that… Neo Politan of the Politan Dust Corporation?" A lower voice asked behind them.

Emerald tore her vision from the short girl who was attempting to stop the large cart by jumping on it. Her petit frame didn't do much.

"Yes, it certainly looks like it, doesn't it?" Said another voice, a female's this time.

Emerald turned, and saw a tall boy standing just behind Mercury.

He had wild red hair, with two smaller horns sticking from his head. He wore a black and red suit, large red sunglasses, and carried a katana looking sword and sheath.

The girl next to him seemed to wear even more red, and a bit of gold.

The tall boy looked down at the other girl, seemingly sneering a bit.

"I didn't ask you, _human_." He said, meanly.

"Oh. I'm sorry. That sounded like an open question…" The girl said, somewhat meekly.

An awkward silence fell upon them. Other than the students still bustling around them, they remained still, staring at one another.

"Weeeelllll… This has been… _fun_ … But I think we all should move inside." Mercury said loudly, startling all of them.

The red-haired Faunus pushed past them in a huff, as though he hated being around people.

"That was… rather rude. Anyway. I'm assuming you all know who I am?" She said, sounding crestfallen.

"No."

"Nope."

"Not a clue."

…

They turned to address the newcomer.

Emerald had expected the multicolored girl had returned to apologize, but it was instead the blonde kid.

The same who threw up on the ship.

Em and Mercury stepped backward, just in case.

He didn't seem to notice.

The blonde addressed the two girls, ignoring Mercury.

"Hi there! My name is Jaune Arc. Short, sweet… ladies love it."

"They do?" Emerald asked, tilting her head.

The red-haired girl talked louder, "You mean. You don't know?"

They shook their heads, until, "Wait… now that I'm looking at you… I feel hungry… I'm thinking cereal." Mercury said, scratching his chin.

"Well… nobody has ever said it like that before… but are you thinking of… Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Cereal?"

"Y…Yeah! How'd you know?"

She sighed, and half heartedly held her arms up, making an imaginary frame.

Mercury gasped, grabbing Emerald for support.

"That's you!? Pyrrha Nikos, the girl on the cereal box!"

She stared at him, before smirking.

"Yes. That's me!"

"Fu… Flippin Awesome!"

They continued to chat… that is, Mercury fired a constant stream of questions at Pyrrha, until Emerald looked around.

They were alone, even the small multicolored girl had managed to recover her cart and move on.

"Guys… We should move on." She said, moving toward the school.

The others followed, not looking back.

If they had, however, they would have caught sight of a two sets of eyes peering out at them from the ship.

One pair was Silver, and the other Lilac.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Onward with this story now. Authors note over. Enjoy! (Also, give me reviews!)**

Chapter 3: A Shining Beacon pt. 2

Emerald made sure to put her green and silver sleeping bag next to Mercury's black one.

"Ya know, you really should try to meet other people… it won't do either of us good following each other like-" he stopped, staring across the room, then nodded lightly.

She followed his gaze to spot two other students, one taller boy with black hair wearing green, the other shorter, with short orange hair and pink PJs. The girl was babbling excitedly, always seemed too close, or with a hand on his shoulders. The boy was clearly tired and wanted to sleep, but the girl kept babbling about random things.

"Ren! Look at the windows! They're so _biiiig_!" Ginger said.

"Ren, do you think they'll teach us to hang light fixtures?"

"Ren, look at those two kids over there! They're staring at-"

The black haired boy finally interrupted her, "Nora. Stop."

Nora instantly shut up, laid down, and seemed to fall asleep instantly.

"I… see. Is that what I sound like?" Emerald asked.

"No… at least not since the airship. Just don't ask about the windows or lights, and _try_ to make other friends, and I think we'll be fine." Mercury said, laying down and rolling over.

Emerald just sat there. She was a bit put off. He seemed a bit tense, much like his old self, but also nicer. Usually, he'd have said 'Emerald. Sleep somewhere else.' or something.

That would have been fine. At least she would have understood.

Laying down, she remembered when they first met.

 _Emerald ran._

 _She'd just stolen some old Scorpion guys wallet, and had to get away._

 _She ran down the street, then ducked down the alley._

 _She ran headfirst into him, hiding behind him as the Scorpion faunus guy ran past, laughing a little creepily._

 _"_ _Where are you little girl, hahaha"_

 _After he'd past, she stood up, and took a good look around._

 _This boy had odd legs. Metal._

 _Gray hair, black tshirt with black ripped shorts._

 _He had a small mouse buy its tail, dangling it over an upturned knife._

 _"_ _What… What are you doing?" she asked._

 _"_ _None of your business." He said shortly._

 _She reached a hand out, and suddenly he stood up, seemingly terrified._

 _"_ _What the hell!?" he gasped out._

 _He instinctively dropped the mouse, and backed up._

 _She lowered her hand, and he continued to stare._

 _"_ _What the hell was that!?" He asked her, stepping forward._

 _"_ _That is why you shouldn't torture animals." She smirked._

 _He smirked as well, "Screw you… That was awesome, but… holy hell." He muttered._

They'd been fast friends since then. Awkward at times, but still friends.

She sorted through her memories.

A month after they met, Emerald found out about his abusive father.

Three months after _that_ , his father was dead, under 'suspicious circumstances'.

She'd left then, to Mistral. She thought Vale was too alert those days, which made her 'job' much harder.

After a few years traveling around Vacuo, she came back.

That night, the oddly named criminal Glynda Goodwitch had robbed the store, and now here she was.

Beacon Academy. She didn't know why she wanted to be a huntress.

She was a thief. Just as much as Goodwitch was, just nicer.

She thought back to Vacuo. She really didn't remember what she did there, other than that she loved it.

A sudden headache disrupted her thoughts, and caused her to open her eyes.

Multicolored eyes stared back.

"Gah!" She shouted, jumped up.

Neo Politan, Heiress to the Politan Dust Company, stared back at her.

Her face had been inches from hers.

'What the hell were you doing over here? Some of us are trying to sleep?' The smaller girl signed furiously.

The thing was, Emerald didn't know Valean Sign Language.

"I'm Sorry… I don't understand what you're saying…" She answered, shaking her head.

"She asked why you were making loud sounds in your sleep." A familiar voice said to her right.

The tall bull Faunus boy was staring at her from his black and red sleeping bag, "Which is a question I want answered too." He added.

"Sorry… I didn't know I was making noises." She muttered, now very self-conscious.

Neo drew a finger across her neck, a clear 'Well, stop.' And shuffled back to her own emaculate bag.

' _Great. So much for new friends…'_ She thought to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Another longer one cuz I'm not super happy how the other chapter came out. Gave a bit of backstory though. Anyhoo, here y'all go! (Review too!)**

Chapter 4: The First Step

The cold wind blew in her face.

She'd had a good night's sleep, but that was interrupted with Professor Fall woke them all, and led them on a forced march to 'initiation'.

She now stood on a cliff overlooking a vast forest, Professors Torchwick and Fall infront of them.

"Okay, kiddos. Today, you're all gonna get thrown into the forest!" Torchwick began, smirking.

Cinder huffed and stepped forward, "Today is initiation. You'll use this time to be sorted into teams of four. Every one of you will receive a partner. No choosing, however. Partners are decided by eye contact. The first other student you make eye contact with _in the forest_ …" She said, staring at Ren and Nora, the latter staring at Ren, poking him hard in the shoulder, "will be your partner for the entire duration of your stay at Beacon. Any questions?"

A lanky blonde boy in silver armor meekly raised his hand.

"None? Good. Stand on the plates behind you to begin." She instructed.

Emerald stood on her plate. To her left, Mercury smirked. To her right, the tall Bull Faunus crouched, scowling.

One by one, the metal plates flipped, tossing the student forward into the sky above Emerald Forest.

Emerald liked to think herself as brave. The thought of getting launched several meters in the air then a freefall turned her stomach a little.

She hated heights.

With a metallic click, she was air-born, spinning wildly in the air with inertia.

She let lose a small scream, before taking a breath, and righting herself. By now, she'd already begun her downward trip.

Thinking fast, she pulled her guns, lashing out at the nearest tree with the chains, hoping to snag one and swing to the ground. There was a loud bang behind her, and Mercury flew past her, flipping himself feet-first and disappearing into the thick green canopy.

She felt her chains tense up, and begin to real her in, increasing her momentum.

Twigs and leafs brushed by as she broke through the trees, before her arm snapped taut, and she began to swing.

' _Too fast!_ ' she thought as the ground sped towards here.

She lashed out with her second gun, hoping to monkey swing till she slowed down.

She kept swinging from tree to tree, till the inevitable lurching feeling of slowing down took hold, and she let herself to the ground, rolling a few times to a stop.

Not a moment too soon, either.

Not two feet in-front of her, the tall Bull Faunus boy stared at her, still scowling and wearing his large red sunglasses.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before he turned away with a huff, and started walking away from her.

"Hey! We made eye contact! We're supposed to be partners!" She called out after him.

She followed him, and found him staring up a tree.

The blonde lanky boy hung from the tree, a long red/gold javelin pinning him to place.

The faunus looked from Jaune to Emerald, seemingly sizing them up.

"You'll do." He said, turning to her, "Let's go."

She nodded, and followed.

"I'm Emerald Sustrai… What's your name?" She said more brightly than she intended.

"Adam Taurus." He muttered back.

Suddenly, she heard gunshots to her left.

Familiar gunshots.

Then a shout of pain.

' _Mercury!_ ' She thought, and took off toward the apparent fight.

Mercury flew through the air.

He hated his mechanical legs, but sometimes he found them extremely useful.

This instance for example. He saw his longtime green friend tumble through the air, and dove face first through the air to help her right herself.

Just before he reached her, however, she righted herself, and launched her weapon chain into the treetops.

He shrugged internally, and fired a round from his boots to flip himself, smirking as Emerald visibly shook.

He'd startled her.

Not feet first, he began firing heavy rounds repeatedly, each slug slowing him significantly, till he hit the ground and forward rolled.

"Nailed it!" he called to no one, and took off at a fast jog.

He looked around. The forest was kinda pretty, in a way. Especially because he was alone.

Not that he'd admit it, but Mercury had a thing about large crowds.

He wasn't afraid of them, God no. They just made him uneasy, a bit jumpy. He'd overcompensated last night, and knew Emerald had noticed something.

He continued running for a good minute, before kicking through a tree.

' _Just for kicks._ ' He thought to himself, and laughed.

His laugh was cut short when something hard thudded into his stomach.

The same object then smashed into his nose, and he felt a kick to his fore-arm.

He looked up, seeing the small multicolored girl, Neo, was now back flipping, and aiming a kick to his lower leg.

Smirking inwardly, he stood still, letting the small girl's leg connect to his with a resounding clang.

The girl jumped back, clutching at her injured leg.

"Hehe, full of surprises, eh? What's with the attacking, anyway?" He sneered, he hated being surprised himself.

Neo began signing furiously.

"You "something* though I was a something Grimm?" He translated, not the most fluent in Sign Language, "Well, I'm not, and now you got a busted leg. Be more careful next time."

Neo nodded. She pointed to herself, then him, then twisted her fingers together.

"Yeah… guess it's you and me… Together forever." He quipped.

Neo just rolled her eyes before turning away, waving him along.

"Hehe, whatever…. You want me. Hahaha" He said, earning a middle finger from the small ice cream colored acrobat.

Just then, Emerald, followed by the tall Faunus boy, burst through the bushes.

"Merc! What happened?" She asked, an odd wild look in her eyes.

"Just a misunderstanding between me and Neo here… nothing to cry about." He said.

"Well… This is Adam, my partner." She said, motioning to the boy skulking behind her.

"Replaced me already, huh? Fanta-"

Adam cut him off, "The sooner we get what we need, the better." Then jogged back through the bush they came from.

"Great find, Em." Mercury remarked.

"Eh. Screw you, bud." Emerald shot back.


End file.
